INDIVIDUALS / BABY BOOMERS

BABY BOOMERS (1946-1964)               By Lisa A. Ditkowsky
(and Pllush Capital Management)

 
Image© Raf Winterpacht

There are two categories of Baby Boomer Financial Planning clients that Pllush Capital Management works with. First, we work with Baby Boomer Business Owners and Professionals on their own wealth accumulation and legacy building strategies. This means advising our Baby Boomer clients on Retirement Planning, Cash Flow Planning, Income Strategies, Real Estate matters, savings and non-qualified funds, setting up trusts and savings accounts for their children, and helping them make sure that their parents' wealth transfer plan is as intended.

The Baby Boomers (1946-1964) are also frequently our direct Financial Planning clients on behalf of their Greatest Generation parents. Since starting in Financial Planning more than a decade ago, Baby Boomers would hire us to assist their parents and oversee the Family Wealth. This is often when the Aging Parent has already turned over Financial Planning duties to the Adult Children. However, sometimes the Baby Boomers bring us into their perfectly capable Aging Parents' lives so that we can help inventory the estates and get everything in perfect planning order long before a catastrophe or tragedy ever occurs.

If a Baby Boomer is hiring us and enlisting our expertise to work with Aging Parents, the best time to do it is when the parents are open to further education about Financial matters and when the Aging Parents are still in control of their entire decision making. This is a best-case scenario because we can provide our expertise in promoting harmonious intergenerational communications surrounding money.

Baby Boomers also come to us after an inheritance or windfall. When you inherit money, it is often in the form of insurance policies, annuities, retirement accounts, regular or non-qualified investment accounts, etc. It is very critical to make sure you are receiving proper Tax Planning, Estate Planning and Investment Planning Guidance when you inherit funds.

Inherited funds may transfer through Probate or outside of Probate. The money may pass by contract law, by beneficiary designation or by trust. It is not always easy to know if you are receiving your inherited funds properly with minimal tax impact to you!

If you have recently taken over for an Aging Parent as trustee or POA or have been added jointly on an account or as a co-trustee, it is important to work with an experienced CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ to make sure you understand the Tax implications of anything you may be thinking of doing in your parents' accounts.

For example, if a parent is very ill, and you liquidate their equity holdings, capital gains taxes must be paid. If securities are sold after a parent has passed, the heir gets a "stepped up cost basis" based on the date of death. It could be a very costly mistake not to work with a CFP®. Another example is an inherited retirement plan. It is usually possible to roll the funds into a beneficiary IRA and avoid immediate taxation on the whole amount. This needs to be done properly, and we have run into situations where it even requires a Probate Court Order, so to take the money too soon can be detrimental. We help Baby Boomers plan to avoid unnecessary tax blows.

The Baby Boomers are in the midst of becoming the greatest beneficiaries of Wealth Transfer that this nation has ever seen. The Greatest Generations' trillions of dollars have already begun to pass - usually upon the death of the surviving parent - and the collective windfall is going to keep getting greater. There has never been as great a need for experienced Investment and Insurance professionals with strong holistic Financial Planning skills (such as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™) as there is right now.